 |  |  | | | Cardiff scientists make breakthrough in search for cure for common blood cancer | | | | |
| |  Dr Saman Hewamana - Cardiff University
Release Date: 07 February 2008
Cardiff University researchers, funded by leading UK cancer charity Leukaemia Research, have made significant progress in developing a new treatment for chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL), the most common leukaemia in adults in the UK.
Dr Saman Hewamana, a Leukaemia Research Clinical Training Fellow, has shown that large amounts of a protein called ‘NF-κB’ were linked to the growth of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia cells. Patients with the most aggressive form of the disease also had the highest levels of ‘NF-kB’.
Dr Hewamana has also shown in the laboratory that an experimental drug, soon to be tested for the first time in patients with CLL in trials in Cardiff, can block NF-kB action, which results in the death of leukaemia cells.
The new drug also kills leukaemia cells taken from patients who are resistant to conventional chemotherapy, thus giving them new hope. In addition the drug does not appear to harm normal blood cells - which would spare them from the effects of conventional chemotherapy.
Dr Chris Pepper from Cardiff University who is leading the research said: "If these very promising results can be repeated in the clinical setting, it seems likely that drugs aimed at disabling NF-κB will become an important addition to the treatment options for this form of leukaemia - which affects over 3,500 patients in the UK each year."
Leukaemia Research currently has over £800,000 invested in research into blood cancers in Cardiff. Dr Hewamana’s exciting new findings are published in the highly respected journal, Blood.
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